Miracle gro is amazing!

Yep, I said it.

Organic? That's a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. If your hops aren't growing quite like you want them to, or as fast as you want to, use the blue powder Miracle Gro.

That's all I have to say because I believe that stuff sells itself,
Jacob

Hops are heavy feeders. Compost will do the trick if you are an experienced gardener.

I used Miracle Gro on the second batch of trees I planted. First round 15% survival, second round 91%.

Yep, that stuff owns. I've started gardening this year not only with hops, but with a variety of veggies. In our raised bed, we have tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers, and bell peppers. Everything but the tomatoes were getting owned before I put miracle gro on them. Sure enough, the very next day after applying the miracle gro, all of the vegetables were dark green and actually grew vertically over night. This is going to sound like a joke, but we had a rose bush that I dug up and put into a 20" planter that was mainly brown before applying miracle gro. The next day, it had about 6 buds of which 2 were already flowering lol.

I use Miracle-Gro for tomatoes on my hops. It does wonders.

Rick500 said:

I use Miracle-Gro for tomatoes on my hops. It does wonders.

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No wonder they call it Miracle Gro...if it let's you grow tomatoes from your hop plants

Chicken poop seems to be doing the trick for me.

There's better things for tomatoes...
http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-09/fertilizer-future-might-be-closer-we-think

Time for me to go water the garden...

Just getting shoots poking thru the ground.

To early to miracle gro since they are still 1st year?

winstonofbeer said:

Just getting shoots poking thru the ground.

To early to miracle gro since they are still 1st year?

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Heck no! Pour 12-15 gallons of miracle gro on them!

ever try compost tea? nothing wrong with mirical grow if you want to.

a farmer just gave me a gal. water jug half full of some organic concentrate. one shot glass full to 2 gal water. dont know what its called but it rocks. and its organic. it looks like 5 year old bong water..

HalfPint said:

Yep, I said it.

Organic? That's a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. If your hops aren't growing quite like you want them to, or as fast as you want to, use the blue powder Miracle Gro.

That's all I have to say because I believe that stuff sells itself,
Jacob

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The blue miracle grow is 24-8-16 IIRC. That is a ton of nitrogen and that is why they go nuts on that stuff, especially if your soil is rather nitrogen poor to start. Also, the potassium is also a key element for hops cone formation and growth and this has a healthy dose of that as well, although it probably doesn't need that much potassium until the cone formation phase of growth in mid-summer.


Here is a nice OSU extension article on nutrient uptake in hops (bookmark it):

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/fg/fg79-e.pdf

oh, and to the originator of this thread:

Everything you can do with synthetic fertilizer can be done organically. Just because you're not willing to learn how or that it may take more time and effort to do so does not mean it doesn't work and doesn't work well. The nutrients in natural composts and soil amendments are typically more stable and will feed your plants over a more sustained period of time, in addition to resulting in no chemical runoff. They also promote healthy insect and bacteria colonies that will provide better overall soil conditions and better resistance to harmful insect colonies through natural predation/colonies.

buzzkill said:

ever try compost tea? nothing wrong with mirical grow if you want to.

a farmer just gave me a gal. water jug half full of some organic concentrate. one shot glass full to 2 gal water. dont know what its called but it rocks. and its organic. it looks like 5 year old bong water..

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I wonder if it's plant-based compost tea or the stuff from the worm farms? Both are pretty potent, but they use the worm farm compost tea in tanks as a spray-application fertilizer in organic farming settings.

And I have no idea what the typical N-P-K equivalent of either is!

ChshreCat said:

There's better things for tomatoes...
http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-09/fertilizer-future-might-be-closer-we-think

Time for me to go water the garden...

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Urea is a long-used fertilizer be it naturally produced or artificially manufactured.

And if you want to apply this as a growth-phase fertilizer to hops, it will work wonders, as urea is 46% nitrogen. Yes, you read that correctly. Apply urea during early growth and potash from the first indication of cone formation through harvest...

Randar said:

oh, and to the originator of this thread:

Everything you can do with synthetic fertilizer can be done organically. Just because you're not willing to learn how or that it may take more time and effort to do so does not mean it doesn't work and doesn't work well. The nutrients in natural composts and soil amendments are typically more stable and will feed your plants over a more sustained period of time, in addition to resulting in no chemical runoff. They also promote healthy insect and bacteria colonies that will provide better overall soil conditions and better resistance to harmful insect colonies through natural predation/colonies.

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Hey, I'm all for organic, but I have a "black thumb" it seems. Lead me in the right direction oh wise one.

You see, when I first started my vegetable, herb, and hop garden this year, I did quite a bit of reading and this is what I did. I used 1/3 manure, 2/3 potting soil, and a bit of bone meal mixed in. To say the least, that did not do much for any of the things I was growing. What should I use?

Thanks,
J

My hops are 6-7 feet tall already! I am not prepared and my trellis is is rough shape... aggg

buzzkill said:

ever try compost tea? nothing wrong with mirical grow if you want to.

a farmer just gave me a gal. water jug half full of some organic concentrate. one shot glass full to 2 gal water. dont know what its called but it rocks. and its organic. it looks like 5 year old bong water..

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My grandfather used to make a "tea" using a rain barrel and manure, he would water his plants with it. Not sure if it did much.

billc68 said:

My grandfather used to make a "tea" using a rain barrel and manure, he would water his plants with it. Not sure if it did much.

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Yeah, my grandfather had an awesome garden when we were kids. He would pick weeds from the garden and yard and boil them up in a big kettle and use the water to fertilize with. Sure seemed to work!

HalfPint said:

Hey, I'm all for organic, but I have a "black thumb" it seems. Lead me in the right direction oh wise one.

You see, when I first started my vegetable, herb, and hop garden this year, I did quite a bit of reading and this is what I did. I used 1/3 manure, 2/3 potting soil, and a bit of bone meal mixed in. To say the least, that did not do much for any of the things I was growing. What should I use?

Thanks,
J

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There are a lot of things that go into it, including what your starting soil condition is. And if you're looking for a quick fix and immediate gratification, you're probably best off sticking with chemical ferts. Amending a poor soil into a fantastic organic and rich/loamy soil can take 5-10 years.

I'm not saying you haven't tried, but you said this:

Organic? That's a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.

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Mixing a little manure and potting soil and calling organic practices "mumbo-jumbo" is just plain ignorant.

Randar said:

There are a lot of things that go into it, including what your starting soil condition is. And if you're looking for a quick fix and immediate gratification, you're probably best off sticking with chemical ferts. Amending a poor soil into a fantastic organic and rich/loamy soil can take 5-10 years.

I'm not saying you haven't tried, but you said this:



Mixing a little manure and potting soil and calling organic practices "mumbo-jumbo" is just plain ignorant.

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From a gardeners perspective.
I've actually been primarily eating organic/locally grown food for quite a while now. I completely believe in eating natural more nutritious food, but considering I've started one single raised bed in a backyard of a home I will be moving from in the next year or so, organic doesn't necessarily make sense for now. With that said, I'm still into learning more about the process.

HalfPint said:

From a gardeners perspective.
I've actually been primarily eating organic/locally grown food for quite a while now. I completely believe in eating natural more nutritious food, but considering I've started one single raised bed in a backyard of a home I will be moving from in the next year or so, organic doesn't necessarily make sense for now. With that said, I'm still into learning more about the process.

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See, now this would have been a great preface!

I will now PM you my address so you can send me one of you health food advocate beers I'm sure you make.

I prefer organic, but am a very lazy gardener. This past year I dumped all of my spent grains in the area where I planted my hops. The spot that got the most grains is showing by far the fastest growth 2 to 1 so far. The ground around the Centennials is filled with worms. The other areas are growing slower and not very many worms. It is an easy way to compost IMO, as I am not about to set up the real composting barrels.

The majority of my plants are over 5' tall now...

FoxFarm FTW!! Yeah yeah yeah, it's organic but it's amazing. If you start with their Ocean Garden soil you won't need to feed them for the first few months! Then, when you're ready to feed them with FoxFarm nutes, you just mix them in with the water you give your plants. There are even several kinds so you can hit the exact N-P-K ratio you want depending on vegetative or flowering growth.

I don't trust Miracle Gro because I bought a bag of their soil that came with spider mites! 2-3 weeks after potting some plants it looked like the surface of the soil was moving! And apparently that's a kinda common occurrence from what I've heard/read. So no MG for me, thank you.

Sorry, just my $0.02

EDIT: It's also really cheap. 35# bag of Ocean Garden (which already has a great mixture of perlite in it so it drains really well) is only $12 at our local hydroponics store. The bottles of nutes are pretty cheap as well, going for roughly $12 as well.

Randar said:

oh, and to the originator of this thread:

Everything you can do with synthetic fertilizer can be done organically. Just because you're not willing to learn how or that it may take more time and effort to do so does not mean it doesn't work and doesn't work well. The nutrients in natural composts and soil amendments are typically more stable and will feed your plants over a more sustained period of time, in addition to resulting in no chemical runoff. They also promote healthy insect and bacteria colonies that will provide better overall soil conditions and better resistance to harmful insect colonies through natural predation/colonies.

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Finally someone stands up for organics! Synthetics are also made up of a lot of salts. They may work for a short period of time. But after they have washed through your soil, being salts they have leeched your soil now of a tooooon of living things.. You have a to keep a good balance of living things in your soil. Have you ever heard of mycorrhizae, or pro biotic fertilizers? you want to use these. Plus if you see a 20-20-20 synthetic all purpose that is way more than your plant can take in anyways. Compare that to a 4-4-4 organic that is ALSO slow release and it pro biotic and you have a winner.

I call Bull **** . . . or maybe I should say Horse **** . . .



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And my nephews work for BEER . . .:rockin:


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HABIT said:

And my nephews work for BEER . . .:rockin:

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Does the camo shirt come with the manure?

I found a place with free composted horse ****. It really is good stuff, All my plants are benefitting.

If you use horse manure you need to make sure it's been composted WELL. Horses don't digest all the seeds so you'll have hay and other weeds sprouting up in your garden. Actually, all manure should be composted because it can burn your garden/lawn/plants if you don't.

HalfPint said:

Does the camo shirt come with the manure?

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what camo shirt, I can't see it

humann_brewing said:

what camo shirt, I can't see it

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Rofl.

That almost makes me want to buy some camo coveralls.

The high nitrogen in miracle grow will inhibit fruit production in most things.

I would be surprised if hops produce as much if you keep applying the spurs when they are producing cones.

Bloom fertilizers have much less Nitro.

Common wissdom is: Nitrogen early (first 2 months or so) and then bloom orriented fertilizers from there.

cheezydemon3 said:

The high nitrogen in miracle grow will inhibit fruit production in most things.

I would be surprised if hops produce as much if you keep applying the spurs when they are producing cones.

Bloom fertilizers have much less Nitro.

Common wissdom is: Nitrogen early (first 2 months or so) and then bloom orriented fertilizers from there.

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so what is the cone production fertilizer suggested for hops?

humann_brewing said:

so what is the cone production fertilizer suggested for hops?

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Honestly I need to find out!lol.

I had a generic BLOOM BOOST or something last year that I used.

what about bone meal? I think thats good at that point in time.

after reading the OSU report someone posted yesterday, whatever has high potassium seems to be the right choice, it said that phosphorus was not as important though.

humann_brewing said:

after reading the OSU report someone posted yesterday, whatever has high potassium seems to be the right choice, it said that phosphorus was not as important though.

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Yep, high nitrogen during growth phase and potassium before and during cone formation and maturation phases.

HalfPint said:

what about bone meal? I think thats good at that point in time.

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Bone meal is 4-10-0 or 4-12-0... phosphate isn't critical for hop yield compared to nitrogen and potassium.

Commercially people can use potash. I save my fireplace ashes from the winter and apply it once the bines reach mature height, but don't overdo it. This is probably the best source for the home grower.

Randar said:

Yep, high nitrogen during growth phase and potassium before and during cone formation and maturation phases.

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How much Nitrogen? Is Organic Blood Meal too much? My shoots just broke ground, and I have some Blood Meal, but I can easily get Bone Meal, too.